Shadows on the Moon
by Heero91
Summary: She worried the arm rest, testing the cuffs in a way I wished didn't make me so nervous. She wasn't interested in me though, her white eyes were trained on the brunette beside me. Tenten didn't seem nervous. "Water is good Blood is better." Her gaze shifted to me as I spoke and she calmed. She repeated it. "What happened to Naruto?" I asked and she smiled. Then she cackled, coldly
1. Chapter 1

Title;

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Trying to get my muse back so I did this up. I'll be back to Fading and Lucky Island now but after they finish this could be my next story. If people like it of course.

Let me know.

Chapter 1

* * *

"We saw a fox the other day, you know like when we were kids. I thought I might have imagined it but Hinata saw too, she's never seen one before and got really frightened." His voice was scratchy just below the surface, tight in a way maybe only a handful of people would pick up on.

"I'm babbling I know but Hinata getting scared, it screwed me up a little, you have any free time coming up? Maybe we could come down to see you, it'd be fun to see you and let Hinata actually meet. My best friend and fiancé have never met, yeah that needs to be fixed." He went on coming up with a couple of other more reasons why he needed to get out of Konoha and visit. I paused the tape and ignored the burning in my stomach.

I needed a drink.

* * *

"You can stay at mine if you like, until you get some proper furniture." My friend offered somehow managing to look sophisticated despite the fact that she was perched cross legged on a cardboard box loosely marked 'cloths'.

"It'll be fine, I've got…camping gear." It felt a little silly saying it out loud, that I planned on spending my first few nights back in my family home using a sleeping bag. Sakura seemed to agree if her light laugh was anything to go by.

"Lee's pretty quick with his deliveries, his store will open tomorrow or the day after…maybe." Her pale green eyes had worked their way up and to the left as her lips pouted softly to form an expression that didn't inspire confidence. That was the trouble with small towns I supposed. I tested my coffee again but found it still much too hot.

"I always figured that guy would open a Gym or something." I earned another laugh from my friend though she may have been exaggerating her mirth to be polite. The pink haired woman pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and offered me a smile.

"People can surprise you, nobody expected you to come back after all." The final part was muttered under her breath but I caught it anyway. I decided to ignore it.

"How's your mother?" I asked changing the subject. The woman's green eyes flashed, I suspected in both pain and gratitude, I mightn't have seen her in several years but I could still read her easily.

"She's alright, good days and less good ones." Maybe I hadn't seen her in years but I had kept in contact with the woman…or it might be more accurate to say she kept in contact with me, via insistent emailing and phoning. Her mother had taken ill during the last winter prompting the pinkette to move back to care for her.

"Why don't you come over and say hi, stay for dinner maybe." I opened my mouth ready to talk my way out of it but reconsidered. I had planned on unpacking my stuff but the discovery that most of my family home's furniture had eroded sort of ruined those plans.

"Dinner would be nice." It wouldn't do to push away the one friend I had in this God forsaken town.

* * *

"So you're the new guy." I blinked over the rim of my glasses at the odd effeminate man currently leering at me. He had a hand on one cocked hip and the other held a water bottle in an almost threatening stance. I lay the documents I'd been reading aside and extended a hand.

"Sasuke, and you would be?" I resisted the urge to grimace as I shook his damp and slightly clammy hand. How long had he been holding that bottle for.

"Suigetsu, I'm the critic." Idly I made note of the title 'critic'. Not food critic, movie critic or any other possible category of critic. I had forgotten just how small this town was. He gestured to the other desks across the room, one empty and the other occupied by a large ginger haired man I couldn't claim to recognise.

"That's Juugo, covers sports and the obits…don't ask why he's just a bit of an odd duck." Suigetsu's grin had a sharkish quality to it, I wondered if he'd practiced that specifically to put people on the back foot in conversations.

"The other desk belongs to Karin, last of our merry band and queen of gossip, bad advice columns and celebrity scandals. If she tries to sleep with you run for it, you won't just catch something…you'll catch everything!" his eyes widened for dramatic effect but he'd failed to notice the bed haired red head entering the office behind him. An open palm smacked against the side of his head and sent him stumbling.

I turned back to the file as the irate woman cursed out the critic. There was scant little to it really, just the bare bone facts. Background and conjecture aside, all I really knew was that the couple had been heading out of town for a weekend getaway, then days later she'd wandered into a diner at the edge of town, Mc Donnaghs. She was manic, dripping with blood and had flesh underneath her finger nails. Naruto Uzumaki's flesh.

"Hey…that's a pretty old file." I glanced back up at the woman Karin and repeated the less than formal introduction but her amber eyes were still keenly trained on the file in my lap. There was more than casual interest.

"Morbid fascination. It's been almost two years and I thought a follow up might be due." There was also the fact that my predecessor had done fuck all investigating, there was no evidence of interviews with the detectives on the case, those that knew the couple or the diner patrons that had played audience to Hinata bloody return. There wasn't enough information to compose a text message on the subject, let alone an article.

"It wouldn't be well received though, most people don't like to relive their tragedies." Her eyes flickered to mine and I caught her meaning. A pen was slipped from her shirt pocket easily and I found her scrawling a number onto my wrist.

"I can show you what Kimimaro was working on last if you wanna get coffee later." She offered a smile before leaving for her desk. Awful nice for someone who had just committed assault.

Only Juugo didn't bother to introduce himself before the day was through but I'd felt his eyes on me more than once. Most of the stories that needed to be done were of little worth, a piece on a bake sale, an upcoming festival that needed its roots and history acknowledged and so on and so forth. I still found my hand drifting toward Naruto's file though as I sorted through the filler.

I forced it to the back of my mind and spent three hours tearing into the work using the shoddy office internet connection for my information. By lunch I had an ache in my lower back and a new found sense of longing for a natural disaster or a serial killer, something exciting.

"Look at you mister newspaper man." I glanced at the pinkette as she stepped into the office. Every other paper I'd ever worked at required ids, passes to get into the building…I also missed that.

"Does anything interesting ever happen here?" I asked exasperated but my friend failed to give her answer. I saw her bright cheer waver as she glanced at the report on my desk, her eyes shifted back to me and I found a silent answer buried within.

Yeah, exciting things did happen here sometimes. They were just never good.

"Lunch?" I allowed myself to be led to a corner coffee shop and talked out of a greasy wrap and into ordering something more healthy. It was good to know that with the pink haired woman around I'd never need to get married, I already had all the nagging I needed.

"You gonna ask or what?" she finally called me out after our coffee arrived her green eyes staring hard into my own. I hadn't planned on asking her about my planned investigation. For a start she hadn't been present when it had happened and then there was all the awkwardness that discussion of our missing likely dead friend brought with it. I could reminisce with Sakura and tell old stories but taking a scalpel to his final days, his relationships and any failings that might have led him to his tragic fate…that wasn't something she could do with me. Or I hadn't thought so.

"I got back for the funeral you know, heard a lot of rumours and hearsay. Asked around a bit too, it helped me cope. The embers where still hot back then, easier to trace things." My order of a thick vegetable soup was set before me by a waitress I didn't care to notice as I was too absorbed in taking in what my old friend was saying. Sakura offered her a polite smile though and thanked her for me.

"So what happened then? There are classified assassinations with more information available." I muttered bitterly forgetting to blow on my soup, I thought I saw Sakura's eyes crinkle in humour as I burnt my tongue with a soft swear.

"Hiashi was major then, and Jiraiya sheriff. They weren't exactly keen on letting information out." Her eyes twinkled and her lips stretched out into a soft if not coy smile.

"There's a but in there right?" I asked taking more care with my soup now.

"But, they weren't on the same team so some stuff did trickle through." I had a theory that Sakura could be a world class spy if she wanted to be. There wasn't a city I lived in that she hadn't tracked me to and even when she wanted to give me information getting to it was distinctly akin to bleeding a stone.

"Is this the part where I slip you a bribe for the information?" I asked earning a light laugh from the woman.

"Nah cover lunch and we'll call it even." She shot back as I saw the waitress collect another dish from the kitchen covey. I was beginning to feel anxious. I'd been spending the morning denying it but I was desperate to get some kind of a handle on this mystery and the office's case files had given away nothing.

"They were gonna get engaged apparently, not something that Hiashi was very happy with. Jiraiya was more neutral even happy about it all, at first. Enough talk from Hiashi though and he soured." Sakura's salad's arrival silenced us for a moment as she thanked the waitress and I again ignored her. I added to my mental list that Jiraiya and most certainly Hiashi would have to be talked to…albeit neither would likely be forth coming. Jiraiya more so actually…I think he might have been dead come to think of it…

"They were going on a trip, just a weekend getaway in the next town over. There were receipts and notes in the car and only a single duffle bag of clothes. They didn't find any signs of a struggle though, or none that I could get out of anyone, Kakashi included." There was a pout that followed Kakashi's name and I didn't ask. I still hadn't seen the old man and I wasn't exactly keen on the idea.

"You probably know Hinata spent maybe three days out there but she came back with more than signs of all hell and blood on her hands." I'd left my coffee forgotten for too long and it had grown unpleasantly cold when I went for a sip. I didn't care.

"What?" Her grimace told me Sakura's drink had turned as nasty but she took a bigger mouthful than I did, maybe for her throat's sake or to buy time.

"Letters or words, not in any language I've ever seen. Written on her arms, legs, well most of her skin…they were written in her blood. She had to be restrained to clean them off." My soup lay abandoned only half eaten and Sakura called me on it but that wasn't concerning. It was always the way I got when something got a hold of me, more than one girlfriend and the pinkette herself had commented on it at one point or another.

"Hinata Hyuuga huh, I never paid much attention to her." And now everything came back to her. I could talk to Hiashi and Kakashi but no matter what I got from them in the end they didn't know what happened, only the insane meek Hyuuga did.

"I don't think anyone did." It was an odd thing to see guilt tainted with anger in someone's expression. I hadn't decided just yet how I felt about the woman, maybe I could have if I remembered talking to her but I didn't so I'd need to take her stock before I decided.

"What are you expecting to find?" she asked after a second. Answers would seem the obvious response, but I wasn't even sure what my questions where yet. And I wasn't exactly one for closure…I'd never gotten it before, I probably wouldn't recognise it.

"What were you hoping to find?" I threw back perhaps a little cheaply, if Sakura thought so do she didn't say it.

"What happened to him, and why. Now don't go avoiding the question." There had been more to it though, I could see that. I wondered if she had hoped to find him alive.

"I'm not sure what I'd want to find really. Though I get the feeling all I'm going to find is trouble." Karin's veiled and Sakura's more obvious warnings helped the nagging feeling. Trouble was good though, I was used to trouble.

"…so much for trying to warn you then." She looked coy and almost a little motherly in that moment, sympathetic and maybe even a little mocking. She hadn't found anything and expected that no one else could…and they called me arrogant.

"I'm going to try talking to the sheriff first see if I can't route around the police files, the office doesn't have any, which I probably owe to Hiashi bullying the paper but Jiraiya had to have investigated his god son's disappearance. I'll go see Tsunade afterwards to see if she can offer any more information, journals and private notes." There were of course difficulties with the plan. The new sheriff wasn't a local and had started in the town after I'd left, though that could be an advantage…the good town's folk didn't much like me.

"You're going to talk to Tsunade…" Sakura seemed to find that amusing and with good cause. My winning personality did tend to offend more people than it won over but if there was anyone who held the grand honour of hating me the most it was Tsunade Senju.

"I could use some help with that." I admitted wondering if I wasn't pushing a little too far. For all Sakura cared for me it was a lot to ask of her, less like a trivial introduction and more as if I were asking her to prevent a hurricane from even messing up my hair.

"It mightn't be that hard if we go late in the evening, she'll probably be most of the way into a bottle by then." She seemed pensive, conflicted. That was always Sakura's greatest short coming, her half measures. Naruto was valour and he used kindness to win over friends, I may have had a certain kind of honour but I used cruelty to get my victories. Sakura had the same kind heart as the Uzumaki but she could see my method too, she could be as severe as I could but she felt the guilt that Naruto would. Maybe we were to blame for the imbalance.

"You don't have to, I can probably…" Well I probably couldn't get any more than a bruise on my own but I had only one real friend and a few easier leads to follow yet before I risked that.

"Just let me take the lead brown eyes and bring a bottle of something nice for her…might make her more agreeable." A bottle of something nice huh? It probably wouldn't be too hard to find something fitting.

A call came for Sakura before she could finish her meal, a minor accident concerning some construction workers. She got the bill before I could protest and I found myself sworn into buying her lunch tomorrow. The waitress offered me a strange smile as I asked for a refill of my coffee, no doubt she wondered at the nature of our relationship. So did I, she asks me to pay for lunch then gets it herself. Naruto used to say I did that, made her so scatter brained.

The hours were lax in the office, given the small scale of the Konoha paper but it still wouldn't do to abuse that on my first day on the job. I decided that I should focus on refurnishing my family home first and foremost. There was only so long I could live out of boxes and bags eating fast food.

After that I'd call the sheriff, only after.

* * *

I'd have to spend another two days roughing it but my furniture was on the way. It hadn't been overly pleasant as far as shopping experiences went, the leather couch was too expensive for its quality and I hadn't bought anything in the way of decorations. I'd need Sakura's help for anything outside the functional, I didn't really have taste.

I stepped out of my car trying to remember whether I'd ordered Italian or Chinese last night and which would be appropriate this evening, in the back of my mind I was more focused on figuring out whether or not it was too late to call the sheriff.

It didn't matter though, I had company.

His hair was still the same grey it had been as long as I knew him and the scarf hid any wrinkles his lower face may have gained. There were a few though, lining his eyes lightly and barely visible except when he smiled. His frame was thicker though, in a stout powerful sort of way.

Kakashi lifted the beer bottle in his hands in a salute to me as I stepped towards the porch.

"Hatake, nice evening for a walk huh?" I asked earning a raised eyebrow, I heard a scuffle and a series of barks as three hounds of different breeds- what kind I couldn't recognise myself except the sheepdog. Kakashi whistled and each paused in there playing and bound over to him.

"I'm hurt, I'd have thought you would come visit me first. Beer?" I accepted the offered bottle, it would make it easier. The name seemed indecipherable to me, testament to Kakashi's fondness for foreign brews. It tasted kind of crappy though, testament to Kakashi's taste for the cheap.

"Karin Uzumaki stopped by earlier, that's some awful quick work you know." I jingled the old lock and key stepping aside to allow Kakashi entrance. I ignored the jab or the compliment whichever it was, I was too focused on something else.

"Uzumaki?" I was aware things could change a lot in a few years, my friend gaining a new family member seemed rather unnatural though.

"A far off relation, she and Naruto never really became close." The Hatake left his dogs outside but made sure the beer followed him in. He quickly found a sturdy box to claim as his throne.

"Pizza or Chinese?" I asked flipping out my phone. Food was good, I wasn't so hungry but it would give my hands something to do as we spoke, my eyes somewhere to look.

"Sweet and sour pork with a fried rice." I made the call doubling up on the order, I wasn't big on experimenting with my foods. Protein, carbs and not so fatty; that's all I wanted. And of course copious amounts of coffee to hold me together. I was still alive so I guessed there was some sense to it.

"Operating a kennel now Hatake?" Kakashi liked to play games, or he used to. He hadn't been forthcoming to Sakura about anything he knew about Naruto's disappearance. Maybe once upon a time I might have had a better chance of getting the information out of the old man, but that was a long time ago and I was no longer his favourite student. I'd become the arrogant angry boy that ran away while Sakura had lost her haughty exterior and Naruto gained insight over brashness. They rose above their flaws and I was swallowed within my own.

"More like the dogs are keeping me but it's not such a bad life." Kakashi took another swig of his beer grinning viciously at his own joke. There was silence for a minute before I explained pointlessly that the food would be a half an hour. So maybe I hadn't thought out that distraction ploy so well.

"I talked to Sakura today." Mentioned Kakashi and as I often did I could almost hear the same man a dozen years younger telling me to look underneath the underneath. The Hatake had vetted me, maybe subtlety, maybe not. He knew I was investigating Naruto at the least.

"So did I, she keeps a busy schedule." I could play my own games too, allow the Kakashi to roll that around in his head, try and figure out what Sakura had already told me. Unless he'd already thought to ask her that, his grin told me just that.

"I'm impressed though, the Sasuke I had known would have went straight for the jugular. No patience to explore the context first." He grinned almost proudly though a little sadly too. He'd been trying to teach that trait to me for years and I only learned it absent him. I quelled the urge to try and explain myself, that the lessons had been heard and well used…they just had taken some time to sink into my thick skull.

"The jugular's out of range really, Hinata Hyuuga won't be easily reached." Or maybe she would, I hadn't checked yet but that was another of Kakashi's old lessons. The advantage of appearing vulnerable and foolish. I suppose that wouldn't work so well on the Hatake.

"She's mad too unfortunately, completely delusional. In layman terms completely off her tits." Warned the sliver haired man moving onto a second beer, though he'd probably pretend he was only commenting on the situation not attempting to delude me.

"She is what she is." All these leads stemmed from the Hyuuga in one form or another. Doctors reports would tell me what injuries Hinata might have received, detective reports what she wore, what she said and where she was discovered. All of it, every scrap I could dig up, Hinata could tell me in seconds.

"Maybe you're not so different after all, still think you can do better than anyone else." Not quite, before I would have assumed I could do better, now I wished I could. I couldn't help notice the way my old teacher spoke the words. When I'd been growing up the grey haired man would have often teased me about my ego, his tone wasn't playful now. Just condescending.

The broken bell clicked quietly and a knock came a second later at the door announcing our food. It offered a nice distraction.

I didn't recognise the kid at the door but Kakashi shouted a greeting from behind me. The pimple faced kid offered me little more than a sneer, apparently quite insulted at needing to make change or maybe something else. Konohamaru, it didn't ring a bell.

"Did she kill him then? You must think so." This one wasn't Kakashi's trick. I wasn't showing my hand as such, just the opening card and what my gut told me was the final one, see if he'd show me what was in between.

"Must I?" He asked taking a swig of his foul tasting beer. But the hard edge to his eye told me I had it right, and he hated that. Time for another swing in the dark.

"Calm and relaxed like this, at peace. You wouldn't be like that if you thought Naruto's killer was still out there." Maybe Kakashi the homeroom teacher would have been alright, or coped if he couldn't make it all the way to alright. But the old soldier Kakashi, that had taken Naruto and I camping because our parents weren't there to, the Kakashi that had shown us how to throw a punch when the older kids roughed us up, that had sat us down as awkward teenagers to get the talk, that had sat with us all night as we got stitches after we'd gotten drunk and hurt being stupid sixteen year olds. That Kakashi wouldn't be anywhere near calm.

"At peace, is that how I seem?" His voice cracked a little and lowered to a growl as rough emotion took over his tone. He quieted for a moment busying himself in his food for a second, I did the same out of respect allowing him to recover himself.

"She did it alright, his blood, his flesh was under her finger nails for God's sake. Talking to her, she's like a broken elastic band, she holds nothing and everything bounces off her." His lips had drawn into a tight frown and he'd given up pulling up his scarf in his usual habit. He'd gained a few wrinkles.

"A woman trying to stop the bleeding of her soon to be husband's wound, pull him from a lake, out of a burning car. A lot of ways the blood could have gotten there really. Difficult to tell without a body to inspect." Kakashi probably didn't like me as much as he used to, we hadn't talked often after I'd left and the last conversations we'd had before I'd disappeared…they hadn't been gentle, but he didn't hate me.

He hadn't except for that moment, when I doubted his convictions and by proxy accused him of betraying Naruto. Kakashi hated me then, if only for a second. We ate our food in silence, I wasn't going to get any more out of the man. He'd offered his opinion and I spit on it, a small part of me admitted that maybe I shouldn't seek out the Hatake's advice on the mystery if that was the best he could do.

"The middle sized one outside, half lab, half collie. He doesn't have a name yet, I thought you might wanna give him one." I was warned of vet checks and training requirements for the hound that I listened to idly as Kakashi gathered his other two wards and leashed them. A soft path to the head was all he offered the third dog in farewell.

"So…where can you sleep no name?" my new companion wasn't much interested in my dilemma though, he was far more concerned with what I guessed he saw as his master and brothers leaving him behind. I found a couple of old blankets hidden away in the attic to serve for the pouch's bedding and returned to find him atop a box of books staring mournfully out my window. He offered me a quick glance and a worried whimper.

I really was more of a cat person.

* * *

My furniture arrived soon enough and the dog I'd tentatively taken to calling Kakashi junior had calmed down after a few meals. He'd become particularly fond of me after a few of Sakura's visits, she liked to pamper and that deeply alarmed Kashi junior.

It was the girl in question that was breaking me from my time-lining now. My new desk was covered in records of everything I had with a date and a time for Naruto's disappearance…but it offered very little insight. There was only the big gaping hole where anything and everything could have happened to my friend.

"I mean he's not doing anything right now, but he's…he's staring at me Sasuke. Just watching me." I calmed her, told her to stay at the bar in plain sight and found my keys calmly. Well I spoke to her calmly, getting the keys was a more panicked search. The pinkette read an address to me that was unfamiliar, a new 'hip' joint that had opened in my absence. I'd passed it before now and didn't have much trouble finding it.

It was styled with a retro theme, neon glasses winking at me over the entrance. It seemed to be the kind of place a low paid movie gangster might go to see a burlesque show, or a hipster might to make some point about irony. I didn't really like the look of it myself. The ruby and emerald lit interior wasn't hard to navigate as the place was essentially empty and I crossed the dance floor to the bare bar in seconds. Then I started to worry.

A surly bartender glared over a beer tap at me and announced the obvious fact that the place was closing, I thought he seemed familiar but my mind didn't linger on the thought. The only other person in the room was an inebriated leggy woman in her mid-thirties, her long curly brown hair hid her features as she snoozed quietly her forehead pressed against the counter. I was halfway between reaching for my phone to call emergency services and interrogating the bartender myself when a shout to my left caught my attention.

Hair a little tangled but grinning brightly Sakura stumbled out of the bathroom pulling at her black mini skirt and scarlet shirt…I had the oddest opinion she'd been throwing up and a more definite sense than Sakura had lied to me on the phone earlier.

"Haruno…what's going on?" A dry laugh came from behind me as the brunette rocked back on her seat apparently not as asleep as I'd believed. Sakura was quick enough to make her way over to us, I now noticed bare of foot I hoped due to her own prerogative.

"See I told you he'd be less than fifteen minutes." Gloated Sakura falling on me in what could have been a hug and then a stool next to her friend. The brunette cackled a little bit more.

"You said he'd be longer, I took the under Sakura." Announced the brunette earning a pout from my friend. Whilst she mulled over the revelation I ordered a glass of water from the bartender and he reluctantly gave it to me.

"What did you bet?" I asked after a moment while Sakura nursed her water. The brunette's features took a twisted devilish glow in the pale light as she answered.

"Loser has to sleep with you sweetie. And do some nasty kinky shit." She didn't waver as she spoke and I might have fallen for it if not for Sakura's reaction. Water spluttered over the bar top as the pinkette gasped for air.

"Tenten." My friend was glaring fiercely as she choked on the air blushing brightly…I most certainly wasn't blushing myself. It was just very hot in here that was all.

"I'm guessing you two wanted a ride then?" In hindsight I really could have chosen my words more carefully. Tenten laughed harder, Sakura blushed deeper and I swore.

"Come on ladies, so where do you live chuckles." Her mirth died for a moment before the brunette cracked up all over again. Sakura didn't manage the walk to the car as well and found her way under my shoulder for balance, cheek pressed flush against my chest.

"She doesn't get out a lot, but damn. Pinkie drinks like a champ when she does." The brunette praised her already half asleep friend. I agreed with the statement though not so much the way it was said, this seemed like thoroughly too much. Sakura murmured something inaudible as I slid her into the passenger seat.

"You getting in?" I asked the brunette, she'd ignored the back seat in favour of hopping onto the car's hood instead, crossing her long jean clad legs knee over knee as she reclined eyeing me carefully. For my own part I tried to ignore the way the tight material clung to her legs or stretched flush against her hips and returned her half curious half amused look.

"I live around the corner. Haruno told me what you've been up to by the way Uchiha." Her voice was a hard rasp that seemed to half guard her words as they tumbled into one another, it sort of suited her personality or what she'd shown of it so far at least. I hadn't told her my name but it didn't surprised me to learn she knew it.

"She seems to be telling everyone." I suppose it wasn't so bad, a reputation as a crusader was better than my old one of half sane brat. Tenten smirked and her eyes twinkled as she slide off the car sliding alarmingly close. She was taller than I had thought, and her body gave the impression of a bow string. Taunt, powerful and capable of serious force at a seconds notice. Brown doe eyes blinked at me as she tilted her head.

"I'll let you in on a little secret." Her smile grew tighter and for a second I forgot how to breath. The woman had an intoxicating domineering charm that was almost impossible to turn away from.

"My predecessor was a buffoon, come to the station tomorrow and we'll see what we can turn up on your pet cold case." I felt something being slid into my pocket before she was gone with a wink sliding away from me and twisting on her heel. I spent longer than I should have watching her stalk away into the shadows before I fished the card out of my pocket.

"Teagan Williams, sheriff huh?" I muttered to no one in particular. Sakura had begun to snore softly as I slide into the driver side seat. I gave her shoulder a gentle shake and called her name but received no response.

I could have brought her to her own home, found her keys in her bag and put her to sleep in her own bed. I was mostly sure that's what I was doing until I found myself pulling into my own old but unfamiliar drive way and slipping an arm under the petite woman's arms. Her forehead nudged against the side of my neck as I hunted for my keys. Kakashi Junior greeted us at the door and disappeared at the sight of Sakura.

I'd only furnished one of the rooms, in hindsight a rather bad move. Sakura giggled a little her green eyes cracking open as I lay her onto my new bed, I could feel the back of my shirt pull tight as she tangled her fingers in the sides. A soft smile pulled at her painted lips.

I started to say something, what I don't really remember, before she arched up her scarlet lips claiming my own as her arms went around my neck and she pulled me down into her embrace. There was an urgency in the kiss, a desperation and we broke apart breathless.

"Sakura…" a thumb pressed to my lips ensuring my silence and she smiled a little more sadly.

"Don't go, I won't…just stay, please." I let myself become her pillow as she mumbled more and more burying her forehead in the crook of my neck. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her lips quieting her.

It was a mistake, a terrible horrible error or judgement.

But her surprise and bright grin quieted my own worries for a moment, if only that. And then her lips were on mine again only much more forceful now and her hands seemed to be everywhere, on everything…and I returned the effort.

"I missed you."

* * *

I came to covered only by a cool dark sheets grace to the smell of eggs cooking and the wail of my new smoke alarm. A moment later came the smell of eggs burning and the hammering of someone trying to silence the smoke alarm somewhat forcefully.

The red lights of the alarm clock on my bedside cabinet announced the hour as pretty close to noon if not quite there yet. I threw the clothes covering the floor into a hamper and eyed Sakura's own skirt, shirt and stockings a little more wearily before I pulled a pair of clean jeans and a t shirt from my wardrobe.

I hesitated at the bedroom door for a moment before I gathered the courage to venture downstairs and find the Haruno. It was not hard.

She'd commandeered a dark blue shirt of mine that was probably a touch too big for me but served well enough as a nightie for her. Her right leg stomped twice in an almost ancient gesture of frustration as she tried to salvage the breakfast.

"You always cook at too high a temperature." The criticism came easy and I enjoyed the girl's wide eyed look as I reached around her to lower the cooker's heat. Sakura and Naruto hadn't the patience for cooking. Where the Uzumaki would simply stick to frozen foods or take away Sakura tried to cook everything at maximum.

"It's what the girl's supposed to do right?" she ventured weakly blinking painfully at the natural light spilling in from the open window. She was definitely hung over.

"Since when were you a girl?" I questioned with a snort, it had the desired effect as she smacked my shoulder and smiled broadly, I offered her a smirk in return. There was a couple of seconds pause before she stepped close and very slowly looped her arms around my neck tilting and stretching up to press a kiss to my lips. I could smell the eggs starting to burn again.

"Didn't think you'd let me do that this morning." I hadn't really meant to, I was just having a hard time saying no.

"We do need to talk about that." I was assured that we would, later. Whether that was after breakfast later or six months down the line after we'd tried being a couple I didn't know…I just knew she seemed to have the power here.

I sat down to eat the half burned breakfast with the girl who was now half way my lover and lost myself in thoughts not all good. I'd thought the sheriff had been joking about that bet.

* * *

I was not the only one who was susceptible to Teagan Williams strange charms it seemed. A mere day after meeting me, drunk, the woman had already both looked over the case, decided the investigating wasn't up to her standards, swore quite a bit and then organised an interview I'd hoped would come much further down the line.

The case reports had been missing, only an empty box with the case number printed on its front greeted us. So Tenten went for her only witness, Hinata Hyuuga.

The institute was pretty in a way I didn't really expect an insane asylum to be. I was expecting something between white padded rooms and strait jackets and the arkham asylum from Batman. It was neither, not even close. Several of the inmates tended to vegetable gardens free of restraints or much security at all as we walked through the courtyard. Tenten seemed to notice my attentions.

"Long term non-violent Uchiha, besides I don't think they let them near anything sharp." Answered the brunette cocking a hip. She looked a little like she'd just stepped out of some male fantasy with her pseudo-cowboy get up and avatar sunglasses, the gun and baton currently in storage had added to the illusion. I'd opted not to comment on that though.

"You can go first, I hear she's pretty sealed up but I don't believe hearsay. Play it as nice as you can." Suggested or maybe more so ordered the sheriff crossing her arms.

"Good reporter, bad cop?" I asked earning a grin, the flash displayed her canines rather impressively.

"Bleeding heart reporter, Demon bitch sheriff actually." Well the woman was nothing if not direct, and rather ferocious. Her eyes shifted to the orderly already reaching for his keys and my own skimmed the doors faded numbers, one-oh-four, one-oh-five, one-oh-six. It would be only a couple of moments until we reached the Hyuuga's one twelve.

The sheriff had mentioned in passing why the Hyuuga was on the ground floor, something about having been a screaming banshee and as violent as hell once she was taken off the ground floor. They'd been reluctant, the ground floor being reserved for those long term non-violent inmates and all, not the dangerous flight risks. She'd been on the ground floor for every day of her stay after the first month though, calm, docile and seemingly completely uninterested in leaving her room.

"You have thirty minutes, bang on the door if you must get out before." The orderly's accent was hard to place, northern European I thought but I couldn't be completely certain. His voice was mostly a soft baritone with only a whisper of a hard authoritarian edge at the very end that may have come from his accent or his occupation. I nodded that I understood, righted my glasses and waited as the door rattled and opened. The sheriff's eyes were hard and her expression closed as I stepped past her.

Whatever I'd been expecting of Hinata Hyuuga, whatever idea of her I might have built up in my mind from what Naruto told me, or people said after he went missing. All of it slipped through my fingers on first seeing her.

The white walls of the room weren't really white anymore, they'd been covered in shadings and drawings that could only have come from an imagination both greater and infinitely more twisted and darker than my own. The dark shapes might have been animals or people but they seemed to me to be somewhere in-between with a thousand other things woven in to their tapestry to tangle the lines.

Perhaps less startling but odder were the cups of water. In two semi circles around the door and the window were a dozen plastic cups filled almost to the brim neatly arranged. I had to step over the first to get into the room and heard to door shut behind me with a heavy clap.

Only after I'd crossed the water and the door shut did the dark haired girl turn to face me, pulling away from a drawing that seemed complete and must have been as she had only been re-shading what was already done with her charcoal.

Her hair may have been a mess and she probably hadn't been allowed anything more than basic hand soap in years but I could see it. Her eyes were so bright a grey they may well have been white and they were wider than anyone else's I'd ever seen in my life. High cheek bones, a soft nose and full pouty lips left me with a perfect understanding of why Naruto had fallen in love with her. More than that though I could see why others could hate her, someone so beautiful was suspicious.

Had she always looked like that, I should have remembered a woman like that.

"Miss Hyuuga, Hinata?" I considered the use of Uzumaki but dismissed it out of hand, she hadn't married him. They'd vanished before that could happen and she hadn't brought back a marriage certificate to the best of my knowledge.

"Water is good, blood is better." She spoke in a way that seemed strangely as if it were meant to be a greeting, or maybe a warning. I got warnings more often than greetings.

"…can I sit?" she blinked at the question so I gestured toward the provided chair. She blinked some more. So much for charming information out of her.

"I'm here to talk about Naruto, you remember Naruto don't you Hinata?" If my words had any effect on her I wasn't perceptive enough to pick up on it. She just blinked some more at me, no more curious and no less curious than she had been before the question.

I took the seat without permission, assuming I wasn't about to receive an answer on that one. Hinata scurried into the opposite one more spider like than human, she sat in the chair half turned away from me, both hands clawing at the armrest. Her eyes barely blinked now behind the dark curtain of her tangled bangs.

"Water is good, blood is better. Do you like blood Hinata?" Or maybe it was just another way of saying blood was thicker than water but something inside me snuffed that notion out, the water was a weapon, the blood was a better one.

"The water stings, the blood burns." She whispered, more to herself as a reminder than to clarify anything for me. Did she mean the blood on her hands burned, Naruto's blood that had been under her finger nails.

"It burns you Hinata?" I thought I sounded like Hatake, that happened sometimes when being myself didn't work. Other times though I sounded like Naruto. Sharper and softer personas that I'd borrow in desperation. The Hyuuga returned to her blinking but glanced away.

"Not me, them." It was spat so low I wasn't sure I heard it, but there was venom there. I'd insulted her.

"Am I one of them Hinata?" I was wasting time, time I wouldn't get back later to ask the important questions but there was no way to get answers without playing her game. If it even was a game and not just madness. Her eyes went wild though at the question, I'd hit some unknown mark with it.

What did she think I was? Confliction danced in her opal eyes drawing my attention before she moved. The arm of the bolted down chair she'd been clawing at came loose too easy as she swung it across her body left handed. I didn't feel it, not really, for the moment at least.

A second, a third, too many hits came as I was regaining myself drawing my arms up to cover myself and pushing back and away from the girl. She'd gained a two handed grip though, a damn steady one and she hit hard. My glasses had broken but I was still too numb to tell if the glass had cut me and how badly, my left hand felt strange, distorted but I kept it high by my temple anyway.

And then I was on my back sucking in air, my arms lying beside me weak. I thought my leg was damp but I didn't know if it was water or blood. The mad woman stood above me, as terrible as she was beautiful now. She was watching me, staring hard and I could see my blood staining her fingers a dark red…she was staring at that too.

And then she leaned down and began to tend to me. Carefully she wiped the blood away and tried to treat the wounds she'd just given me. It was my turn to stare at her as she wept and wiped the tears on my cheeks, tracing comforting patterns on the battered flesh of my face.

"Sweet, sweet rabbit, shouldn't be here. They'll see you, they watch me. They watched him, they took him. They saw me, they took me. They watch me and they'll see you, they'll take you." I was having trouble hearing her now and even more making sense of the words. They watched him, took him and took her. Did see mean Naruto?

"They took Naruto?" My tongue couldn't form the words, not properly anyway and even if she'd understood me I didn't hear her answer. The world slipped away from me, first in black spots as the world seemed to crack and shatter and all that was left was darkness and swimming within that the opal eyed terrifying Hinata. Her full lips mouthing words I couldn't hear.

Answering the questions I still didn't know enough to ask.

Fox…that was what Naruto used to say. When his mother had her episodes, went off her meds. He said the fox was in control then. He'd seen something like that again, with Hinata before he'd gone missing. And it had seen them too.

* * *

New story rather unlike my usual brand I'd like to think. Of course it's a mystery more than anything else. Let me know what you think.

Until Lucky Island or Fading ends this will remain a teaser.

R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Title;

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Trying to get my muse back so I did this up. I'll be back to Fading and Lucky Island now but after they finish this could be my next story. If people like it of course.

Let me know.

Chapter 2

* * *

I slipped in and out of the world feeling boneless and twisted. Features danced in my mind's eye, pale hopeful Sakura, lonely old Kakashi, lost Naruto looking like a child again and more than everyone else the beautiful and terrifying Hinata shifting between angelic and demonic at a moment's notice.

I came awake in a panic, sweaty and gasping for air. I must have glanced over the room a dozen times before my blurred vision actually managed to take anything in. I was in an ugly hospital room hooked up to an Iv drip, my left arm strapped down and encased in a thick white cast. I could feel the scratchy texture of bandages on my brow, cheek and ribs as I used my right hand to explore.

In the low light I could just make out a figure curled in a corner chair mostly covered in a large wool blanket. The mop of pink hair gave her identity away though. I tried to move but had no strength, I tried my voice but got little more than a low whine. I tried once more to push myself up before I gave up and lay down allowing unconsciousness to reclaim me.

Idly I thought there must have been a nurses button somewhere but I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

I could hear a soft voice reading lightly from what I thought was a newspaper. I was still too far gone to make out what they were reading though so I just enjoyed the melodic ring of the familiar voice telling me…well whatever it was trying to tell me.

Time seemed fluid but eventually the words came clearer and I recognised Sakura's voice explaining how the cold front was expected to last another week at the least. It had been early autumn last time I'd checked, and a warm one at that. How long had I been out? I cracked my eyes open and heard Sakura's voice cut off before scrambling and shouting began.

I could barely process the movement around me as nurses and doctors came and performed tests, Sakura was by my side though gripping my unhurt hand softly. I thought my mind might have been skipping parts. I had to force a whisper out that I wanted the drugs to stop…as much as was possible anyway. I needed to be able to think clearly.

"How long?" It was a half hour before my mind cleared enough to process my thoughts clearly. My voice was still scratchy though and before she answered I found a bottle of water pressed to my lips.

"Not that long really." She answered with a tight smile her fingers running along my forearm. She'd been reading to me though, that seemed unnatural unless I'd been...

"Not long for being knocked out or for going into a coma?" I asked my voice still rough. Sakura grimaced and I had my answer even before she spoke, I let a long weary breath escape me.

"The latter. You were badly concussed, it's been about two weeks." The pinkette admitted curling her knees up to her chest and hugging them. My ribs still hurt and my arm was definitely out of use, maybe it would have been better if I'd stayed out for a while longer.

"She hits hard for such a small thing." I joked, it felt a little weak though when I took in Sakura's state. Whatever extra sleep I'd been getting she'd most certainly missed out on, the dark rings beneath her eyes told me that. It must have been hard for her, from where she was standing it had to seem like Hinata Hyuuga was picking off her loved ones one by one.

With a little help I got into a sitting position and let the girl fill me in on what had happened in my two week absence. Not a lot really. I asked about her mother who was much the same as before and Tenten who apparently had only been to the hospital long enough to drop me in and call Sakura before she disappeared. There was more to that though, I could see it in the way Sakura's jaw tensed. She'd needed someone to be angry at and I guess the sheriff had drawn the short straw. Kakashi'd been dog sitting for me, feeding his name stake and taking the hound out on walks and the newspaper had been- rather unhappily- stretching out the few busy work articles I'd wrote before I'd interviewed Hinata.

At five Sakura had to leave to check on her own practice back in Konoha promising to be back for nine despite my protests. At six I had an unexpected visitor.

"You didn't call." She wore her work clothes it seemed not long out of the office and was quick to dump a stack of papers on the bedside locker planting herself on the side of my bed her long legs crossed knee over knee. As far as I could tell she still hadn't brushed more than one side of her hair.

"Been preoccupied. No get well card?" She laughed lightly but it was more flirtatious than out of mirth. It was probably the remaining drugs talking but I didn't mind so much.

"Suigetsu made you one actually, but it probably would've hurt more than it helped. Besides he thought I should be the one to bring you your work load although…" it was the kind of sentence people phrased as a trap. It seemed to me there was always some woman making me look the fool since I'd gotten back to Konoha…not that I minded so much.

"Although?" her scarlet painted lips spread into a coy smile and she slid her glasses off leaning in close and I was suddenly aware that the top four buttons of her shirt were open to display her modest assets and her lips gloss smelled of strawberries. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered there was a pink haired girl with a claim on me already. Later I'd blame the drugs as to why I didn't voice that protest immediately.

A dull knock echoed through the room before Karin could reach me and she went scrambling off the bed suddenly much less graceful and erotic than she'd been seconds before. So much for that. I spied the tall brunette in denim and another of her ugly checked shirts, her hair tied up in tight buns as she stood poised by the door, a hand still raised and a glare forming.

"Get out." Tenten had ice in her tone and glanced pointedly at my co-worker. The severity lessened though as the door shut behind Karin and the brunette strode across the room dragging her heels with a sigh.

"I'm not really one to judge but, a drugged up guy just out of a coma…that woman really should be on a registry or something." the sheriff looked partway between amused and disgusted and I thought I caught the smell of something strong on her breath as she moved closer, whiskey maybe.

"You look like shit, though I suppose you are better than Sakura let on." There was a tightness in her tone and I wondered exactly what the Haruno had said to her friend. I could guess how she'd said it at the very least, she didn't show it to me that often but I was still aware of her temper.

"I'll take that as a compliment." She didn't seem to hear me as she half flopped into the chair, seeming boneless and graceless and altogether unlike the woman I'd met a short few weeks ago. I could see she was working on something, trying to force out something hard to say or maybe trying to remember what she wanted to say. It was hard to tell the difference when someone was that deep in a bottle.

"I worked in the city before this, quite a few of them actually and it was always the same. Infested hives, or at least they seemed to me. I got to go to quite a few domestic disputes, I guess they figured a lady cop would be more comforting for a battered wife. My bosses never knew me very well, most she wolves have more empathy." She placed a booted foot onto the bed and nudged my leg in a strange gesture I interpreted as intended comforting.

"Was actually the husbands that found me more comforting….Not like that dumbass." She smiled brightly spluttering a laugh as I raised an eyebrow, the happiest expression I'd seen her wear since she'd stepped into my room. Her dark mood returned quick enough.

"It can go either way you see, my partners always had a hard time offering a battered man sympathy or arresting a violent lady, especially if she was tearing up…or pretty." I still wasn't exactly sure where the brunette was going with it but I had a feeling.

"A violent man's a thug, like a mad beast. All growls and nips and willing to batter her into submission. A violent woman's completely different though, they're striking from a position of weakness or at the very least they'll see it that way, so they hit hard and they hit nasty. More like a viper or a black widow." There it was. I suppose it wasn't that surprising she'd worry about that. A tiny woman had almost killed me, my masculinity should have taken a hard hit. It hadn't and I didn't think that was due to some virtue of mine.

"It's sweet that you worry about me like that." I remarked but the brunette didn't look amused, her dry lips pursed into a hard line.

"What I'm trying to say is that even if your stupid ass didn't I should have known better. I'm sorry." The apology had come so gritted out that I had to struggle not to laugh at her. Which was smart, she'd probably kill me if I tried it.

"Sakura really reamed you out huh?" there was a blush that confirmed it and a dark glare that promised trouble if I pursued that line of questioning any further. There was an awkward silence after that. We didn't really know each other all that well yet but I already knew the sheriff was the cagy sort.

"I have to see her again." It was Tenten's turn to look incredulous. She seemed to be having a hard time deciding whether I was joking or being serious. At any rate she didn't find it very funny.

"She said something, before I passed out. Half mad but she seemed to be talking about a third party, and warning me." It seemed like the tread I'd been waiting for…though if it had turned up minus the concussion I'd have been happier. The brunette raised an eyebrow.

"She beat you bloody and then warned you of danger…yeah…that seems legit." She returned completely deadpan, I suppose from her perspective I was on some pretty powerful painkillers. I had free reign to be loopy.

"She said they watch her. That they'd watched Naruto and her and taken them both." Though she'd said it in a distinctly less sane manner. I couldn't seem to catch the memory clearly though, when I tried to remember her words exactly they tumbled into one another and got tangled up. After effects of a head injury I suppose.

"It might be terrible but I'd at least been grateful that I could close this case, your attack seemed to conform her psycho status. Nothing's ever bloody easy is it." Muttered the brunette groping around her pockets for something.

"Not in my experience, no." No living family, best friend missing, accidently got into a relationship with my other remaining friend, only lead beat me into a coma, co-worker attempting to seduce me…and the sheriff dismantling the smoke detector and lighting a cigarette.

"You're one of those cowboy cop's aren't you?" that was actually becoming increasingly apparent. I liked it.

"Yep, it's a shame those varmints stopped robbing banks and cattle though. That was much less complicated." She opened a blind and a cracked open a window allowing the cool night air to seep into the room.

"You want one?" she offered the pack but I refused. It had taken long enough to get off them in the first place and I didn't need a lecture from Sakura…I was already dreading the one I'd get when explained I wanted to see Hinata again.

"You won't get to see her on your own again, she'll be in a jacket and there'll be any other damn safety measures I can come up with by then." She frowned darkly but I got the feeling she wasn't that reluctant. Again I wondered just what Sakura had said to her.

"Fair enough." I wouldn't lie to myself at least, I was half terrified of seeing Hinata Hyuuga again and the other half of me was only feigning bravery. What was more worrying was that I couldn't convince myself that my fear wasn't rational, soft and beautiful as she may have been there was a hardness to that woman. I didn't believe she killed Naruto, but that didn't mean I felt she couldn't be a killer.

"And you owe me a bottle of wine, something expensive that's wasted on my commoner's palette. And you name your first born after me. And…" she was cut off as I broke into a laugh and she joined me. It wouldn't have been so funny without the morphine but I didn't mind so much.

"I'm sorry about Sakura, she's…" sort of like a bloodhound combined with a door to door salesman. Completely unstoppable when she wanted to be. She'd broken another girls nose in middle school over something she'd said about Naruto, I suspected she'd threatened to castrate a group that had beaten up Naruto and I two years after that…not much outside of natural disasters compared to the Haruno when she was feeling protective.

"A tiny pink tyrant." Remarked the brunette and I wasn't entirely sure how much in jest it was.

* * *

"Kakashi's been walking him for you, he doesn't seem to like me." She was pouting and distinctly ignoring my inspection of the cooking food. She hadn't burned anything yet and that was both promising and distinctly unusual.

"Maybe he picked up Kakashi's dread of the fairer sex." That or he'd picked up my dislike of being doted on, squeezed and baby talked. I kept that second theory to myself though. My still brooding friend turned away from the boiling pots and took a seat at the still new kitchen table across from me. Someone, I suspected Sakura herself, had been in cleaned during my hospital stay. Funny that I didn't remember giving her a key.

"Work's going to be fun huh? One handed typing's not so fun." She mused cupping my uninjured hand in both of her own. Her thumb ran in soft circles over the back of my knuckles and she had a soft smile on her bright pink lips, it made me uncomfortable how angelic she could seem. It felt like going to a formal meal in dirty rags, unwashed with a week's worth of stubble on my chin and my cock hanging out just for flavour. In short Sakura made me feel tainted by comparison.

"Tea?" I asked springing to my feet looking for an excuse. I hadn't thought the plan fully through though as I fumbled one handed. Sakura had a bemused smile and crossed one leg over the other daintily. I missed the old days where I played it cool and she acted silly, those were better times. Almost idly my hand passed over the mangled bracelet Sakura had taken off when she'd begun cooking, I fiddled with the old material for a moment musing on the first time I'd seen it.

"Do you want to go see a movie later?" Sakura had spoken but I didn't register the words. The stitching on the inside had eroded too much for me to read anymore and I realised I wasn't actually sure what it was meant to say. I'd been with him when he bought it, easily talked into the romantic gesture by the saleswoman while I'd stood off to one side impatient and angry. When had he given it to her though, I couldn't seem to remember? Christmas, a birthday?

"Sasuke, you listening?" She'd risen and hovered just behind me craning to see over my shoulder. I shook off my thoughts and dropped her memento like I'd been caught pilfering from her purse.

"No, sorry I wasn't." I tried to look apologetic but it was half-hearted at best. I was still too far away lost in a memory half forgotten.

"I asked, you know it's not important. Have you been to the grave yet?" hers gaze was soft but I wasn't comforted. I wasn't the discussing feelings guy, my own or other peoples. I shared my grief with no one but myself and as a rule I preferred not to be exactly right where I was, caught feeling.

"I, no." I broke the eye contact and forced my mouth into a hard line crossing my arms in what I hoped was enough of a hint. And just like that I was my brooding sixteen year old self again. I didn't mind talking to Sakura about Naruto objectively, what happened, who did it but…emotional obligations were something else.

"You know Sasuke that stopped working a long time ago." A hand found each of mine cupping them and pulling to my sides gently. Avoiding this conversation wasn't going to be so easy after all. Sakura wasn't so meek anymore.

"Clearly." I wanted to say something witty just a little but I couldn't think of anything. I wanted to say something cruel and biting more though, and I could think of plenty on that subject but held back.

"I can go with you, I wanted you to be there with me the first time too. I couldn't do it alone." It was offered to comfort me and all it did was make things more awkward, because I didn't want Sakura there, not the first time and even if I did…I…

"I can't." Her expression was neutral, carefully neutral. No judgement, hurt or condemnation, or none visible yet anyway.

"Why?" she whispered softly, eyes soft and imploring, hand gently stroking mine. Why couldn't I see Naruto's grave? Because I hadn't returned his last four phone calls to me, because he hadn't introduced me to his fiancé yet, because I still didn't know who to blame and I needed someone to blame, because I might cry and he was supposed to make me laugh instead. Because if I saw a grave marker then it would be real and I'd have to accept it.

"I, I need to get some air." I pushed away ignoring the hurt that flashed in her bright eyes or the sound of her calling after me. All I knew was that the walls were too tight and she was too close and the kitchen was too bright and I needed the opposite that only the cold winter night could offer me.

* * *

"Hey you alright?" I shook myself from the stupor I'd fallen into and politely asked for another cup of coffee. The waitress still looked sceptical though despite my reassurance, she looked familiar in a generic sort of way that came with sleepless nights, pain meds and caffeine taking their toll on my mind.

"Is Kin in yet?" I asked I think for the third time now. It was one too many for the waitress anyway as she grunted a negative answer and quickly took to the other end of the counter. I had my coffee though so I didn't care much.

About the time I'd begun debating the merit of a stickman cartoon in the borders of my notebook a new presence made itself known leaning onto the counter in front of me. The top most buttons of her shirt had been undone and I caught an eye full as I glanced up at the dark woman, either she was worried no one would realise she did in fact have breasts or she was hoping for some big tips tonight.

"You been waiting for me cutie." I wasn't cute, or at least I was most definitely not right now. The hospital stay, sleepless nights and over dosing on coffee had left me with that sickly hollow eyed pallor and shaky features traditionally found in drug abusers trying to kick the habit.

"Yeah, I had some questions I wanted to ask you for an up-coming article." Dark eyes flashed I thought a little greedily. I wondered how long the enthusiasm would last, my money was on a single question so I took some initiative pulling three crisp twenty bills from my pocket and lining them beside my cup. Some of the eagerness left her as she realised perhaps my questions wouldn't be about her dreams and idea of a perfect Sunday.

"To confirm, you were working here April 12th 2011?" If she hadn't guessed it already she knew what I was after now. She didn't move and that at least was a good sign.

"I was." She answered me tensely still eying the bills still on the counter.

"Did you see Hinata Hyuuga enter the building?" The files had only noted that she'd been sighted here covered in blood.

"I did, hard not to notice a mad woman covered in blood." I nodded and considered the best way to organise my questions.

"Did she say anything?" I asked testing my pen in what I hoped translated into aloofness, the subtly was probably wasted on the waitress.

"Screamed a lot, nothing that made sense though. Just wails and screeches." Remarked the woman with a distant shrug. It was hard to imagine the fragile woman screaming but then again I hadn't been able to image her beating me into a mild coma either. There was a sharp click as the woman snapped her fingers drawing my attention back to her, I was drifting off.

"Then she held up in the kitchen alone right?" I asked unaware that I was accidentally leading the pace now. I needed sleep or a cigarette or a bottle of whiskey or a size eight blonde in a cocktail dress with massive…I was wondering again and down a path Sakura was unlikely to appreciate.

"Well I suppose you could say that." Muttered the waitress with a shrug, I caught it and swallowed a mouth full of coffee.

"And what would you say?" I tried again feeling better as I drained the last dregs of my almost cold drink.

"She was in there on her own yeah, but as you can see there is a window." She nodded slightly towards the opening where the orders were passed through. Seemed that had been the theme of the police reports on the incident, mobsters let more things slip. I caught a familiar figure entering the diner.

"So what did you see?" I asked as the brunette plopped down next to me and signalled for two more cups of coffee.

"Woman was crazy, she put on all the gas ranges, put the sinks on until they overflowed and started throwing salt around. Like something out of a bad movie." I remembered the cups of water set up in the Hyuuga's room, there was something distinctly occult in the Hyuuga's acts and a pattern to it too. Surrounding herself in water seemed vital to her.

"Did she do anything else?" I pushed for more rubbing my eyes to try and throw off some of the exhaustion I felt. I eyed my rough hand writing frowning at the barely legible notes.

"Well she ran out of salt pretty quickly, after that she just lay there, sobbing and wailing at I dunno herself I suppose." The waitress shrugged and wandered away to attend another customer.

A pale hand pushed a fresh cup of coffee in front of me and I blinked at the owner. She was in uniform her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail but she looked too relaxed to be here on business, she leaned over without asking for permission and grabbed my notebook.

"Water and salt huh, sounds like she was just a really bad cook?" I had to smile, though it probably wasn't all that nice an expression.

"Could be." I couldn't really taste the coffee anymore so I pushed it away. I needed to sleep, to clear the cobwebs away properly. Maybe I'd exhausted myself enough to manage it now.

"We can talk about it in the morning anyway, you didn't drive here did you?" I shook my head in the negative and muttered the word taxi, I'd had that much sense at least.

"Good, I'll take you home…or maybe to Sakura's." She trailed awkwardly as I gave into the temptation and lay my head on the counter. Morning would be good, I had new information and I'd be one step closer to recovery.

I heard the sheriff calling my name and I idly realised the waitress hadn't accepted the money I'd offered likely in fear it was somehow illegal and arrest worthy. Tenten used it to pay my tab and shoved the remainder into my pocket, I guess having the sheriff around had perks

* * *

If I woke up in my own bed there should have been simple cream sheets beneath me and a blue duvet. If it had been Sakura's, pink sheets and a red cover with her distinctly feminine scents of various perfumes, shampoos and soaps clinging to the bedding.

Instead I glanced dumbly at the brown sheets and black pillow covers trying to process what it meant for a few moments. Sakura had changed her sheets? Someone had changed my sheets. The hound Kakashi junior was a villainous sheet changing canine? A cough from the door broke me from my mad musings and gave me a sinking feeling as I glanced over.

She'd left her hair down and it tumbled almost to her hips in messy thick curls, the green shirt she was using as a nighty barely reached her mid-thigh and seemed to cling to her far better than a man's shirt had any right too. I swallowed thickly as she shifted her stance, cocking one hip forward and forcing the hem of her shirt to ride just a little higher.

"Not that I'm not flattered or anything but are you gonna stare all day?" If I were another man I might have blushed, but this wasn't the first time I'd woken up in a strange bed devoid explanation. Whiskey and a heat seeking dick causing that often enough.

There was however the migrating fact that I was still dressed though perhaps I shouldn't assume the worst yet.

"Why…am I in your bed?" she laughed. Not an airy gentle laugh like Sakura or Karin might use, but full blown bellowing laughter. I probably hadn't slept with her so.

"Wow, the way you said that. So suspicious, like you're expecting me to break out the leather and S&M shit any second?" She crossed the room plopping herself down on the foot of the bed still laughing. Just like that I wasn't dealing with the gorgeous confident half naked sheriff anymore but rather Naruto with a rack.

"I remember you mentioning Sakura's." Not that I really wanted to be in Sakura's instead. Since our relationship upgrade she didn't really behave the same as before, there was no casual talk or friend stuff, everything we did together now was in the context of a romantic relationship. Also there was the touching, I was not the public displays type.

"Couldn't reach her and I wasn't exactly sure where you lived. So here we are, I took the guest and dumped you here." I really wished she'd put on some pants, it was getting distracting.

"You could have dumped me in the guest." I was greeted with another hearty laugh as the brunette shook her head to dispel the notion.

"No, no I couldn't." She contended grinning. A couple of seconds later I discovered why. Along the walls and floor of her guest bedroom Tenten had set up timelines of various investigations. Among them were a few homicides and graphic pictures to go with them. She was right, had I woken up unprepared to a few of those images this morning would have been much more eventful.

"So, ready to add the Hyuuga case to my little collection." She leaned on one of my shoulders a small smile hanging off her full lips. This was going to be an interesting experience.

* * *

And we've got chapter 2, mostly just the poor guys recovery. And Tenten being a tease, that's always vitally important. Hinata will be returning next chapter for an interview with the dynamic duo. Though this story is still on the back burner until Fading finishes.

R&R


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